Unemployed Hong Kong man gets 32 months in jail for selling stun guns, batons online amid protests
- Defence lawyer says his client Chiu Tsz-fung was merely hoping to profit from anti-government protests by trading weapons to demonstrators
- But district judge says the stun guns – capable of producing high-voltage electric shocks – could have caused grievous bodily harm to others
Chiu Tsz-fung was sentenced at the District Court on Monday after he was found on November 1, 2019, with 12 tasers and 21 extendable batons he was about to sell to an undercover police officer posing as an anti-government protester.
Upon arrest, the 31-year-old unemployed man admitted he had been selling weapons since October 2019, after buying them on mainland Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao, in a bid to clear a HK$300,000 (US$38,687) credit card debt.
The prosecution said Chiu came onto the police radar after he posted images of batons for sale on his Facebook page, describing the weapons as poles used for “renovation” – a euphemism for vandalism.
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The undercover officer contacted Chiu on WhatsApp on October 25, expressing interest in buying.
During the subsequent negotiation, Chiu claimed the tasers were capable of “knocking out” police officers in one minute, and suggested his batons could be used to break wooden barriers in banks. The two struck a deal a week later, with Chiu agreeing to sell 10 tasers and 20 batons for HK$12,400.